Who's the new circus clown?

Paul Newman paid a secret visit to Britain today to take on his toughest role yet - as a circus clown.

The star made a guest appearance at Zippo's Circus in London to entertain sick and disabled children. All were from organisations helped by sales of his Newman's Own products.

The 79-year-old started the company in 1982 and has so far donated more than £120million to charities worldwide. Aptly for a man whose firm makes spaghetti sauce and whose most famous film is Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Newman appeared under the name Butch Bolognese.

The orchestra struck up Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head as he entered the ring in Highbury Fields, watched by members of his family. To the 300 delighted children, the character in a green bowler hat, giant yellow shoes and red nose having a bucket of spaghetti poured over his head was just another clown.

Beforehand, the actor joked nervously: "This will certainly end my professional career." Newman flew in last night and had only 45 minutes to rehearse. "I'm not accustomed to doing this kind of stuff and I only hope people laugh at it," he said. "The chances are I could be tarred and feathered."

But Zippo the Clown, aka Martin Burton, said: "You have to have a feel for slapstick or you couldn't do it, and he definitely had that."